Jacobsen's punishment? He must pay T-Mobile $10,000 in damages -- plus he faces a year of home detention.

Hm. Home detention. How will this convicted hacker pass the time? Perhaps a year without Internet access would have been more fitting -- or does that fall under the category of cruel and unusual punishment?

Yes, I'm being just a bit flippant. I'm sure a year at home won't be a walk in the park, and I'd rather see him suffer that than be forced to rot in jail. And to his credit, he did apologize and acknowledge the error of his ways.

U.S. District Judge George King clearly felt that same way, in that he didn't slap Jacobsen with anything close to the maximum sentence for accessing a protected computer: five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.